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Tallman was born in 1957 and grew up with two younger sisters and a younger brother. Together with her family she moved several times around Illinois, including Pontiac, Peoria, Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. At the early age of two she appeared with her father in a radio show, singing "Bicycle Built for Two", beside playing Dark Shadows and Star Trek with her cousin Susan and their Barbie dolls. Her father was working all the time and mother, who was seriously ill with cancer, died when Tallman was thwenty-three. Tallman's sisters are also working in the business today, Judie as a hair and makeup artist and Mary as a script supervisor. Her brother Jonathan became a doctor.

Tallman attended the Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and graduated in 1975. During her time in high school she joined the cast of several musicals and stage plays and performed at The Red Barn Theatre at the age of fifteen in Saugatuck, Michigan. One year later, at the age of sixteen, she got her first payed acting job in dinner theater. After her graduation she knew she wanted to be an actress beside her dreams working with animals or for the law enforcement and she enrolled at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, studying for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater Arts. She worked in musical theater at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, where she performed in over eighteen musicals. At Carnegie Mellon University she was given an award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting in her senior year at the same weekend when she was Homecoming Queen.

After graduation in 1979, Tallman moved to New York where she continued her stage career, winning lead roles in musicals and Broadway plays including the award-winning "Big, Bad Burlesque" show, appearing as Rosalind in the Riverside Shakespeare Company production "As You Like It", and becoming a member of J. Allen Suddeth's show fight group "Fights'R'us" after Suddeth taught her in period sword techniques. Tallman took several jobs to survive. On day she worked as model and on night she waited tables, worked in a bakery and later also at the little girl's department at Macy's.

Tallman was cast in a recurring role on the soap opera Guiding Light, followed by several appearances in series such as Texas. One day the stunt coordinator for the daytime series All My Children, J. Allen Suddeth, needed a stuntwoman, 5'9" with red hair, to double an actress for a stair fall and wearing only lingerie and cast Tallman, who earned $1200 for this job. She auditioned for a role in the 1981 adventure drama Knightriders, produced and directed by George A. Romero. Tallman landed the featured part of Julie and was soon cast in other productions by Romero and Tom Savini, who also graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University, taught a makeup class there, and performed in Knightriders. Knightriders also featured her first nude appearance on screen. Other 1980s projects include the comedy Stuck on You! (1983, with Richard Rothenberg), as stunt double for Savini actress Roberta Weiss in the Tales from the Darkside episode Inside the Closet (1984, with guest star Fritz Weaver), and for Romero actress Page Hannah in the Creepshow 2 segment The Raft (1987), as well as the Tales from the Darkside episode Family Reunion (1988, with Stephen McHattie and Marilyn Rockafellow) and Romero's horror film Monkey Shines (1988, with Kate McNeil, Stephen Root, and Eric Stuart).

In the late 1980s, Tallman decided to move to Los Angeles, California and stayed with friends before she was introduced to her future (and first L.A.) roommate Iona Morris who herself would later guest star on Star Trek: Voyager. Following a few engagements in soap operas, including the roles as underwear model Billie and undercover cop Christy Russell in the daily soap Generations and theater, Tallman was cast for her first L.A.-based feature film, the action drama Road House (1989, with Kevin Tighe and Anthony De Longis). One day before she filmed her stunt scene as the redhead bandstand babe, Tallman injured her knee in a softball match but stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni changed the stunt choreography and she was able to film her scene.

In 1990, Tallman learned that Tom Savini was working on a remake of Romero's Night of the Living Dead from 1968 and auditioned for the part of Barbara. She was cast and worked with many people from her time in Pittsburgh and from Carnegie Mellon on this project. It was also this film which was important being considered for her part in Babylon 5 two years later. On Night of the Living Dead she worked with fellow Trek alumni Tony Todd, Tom Towles, and Stacie Foster.

It was on the set of Shocker that Tallman first worked with Dennis Madalone, and in 1991, Madalone brought her onto Star Trek: The Next Generation for the episode "Power Play", where she played a security officer. She filmed her scenes for this episode along fellow stuntmen Lincoln Simonds and Rusty McClennon on Tuesday 3 December1991, Thursday 5 December1991, and Monday 9 December1991 on Paramount Stage 8 and 9. This single appearance was followed by a long-term relationship with Star Trek, as Tallman became part of the core stunt group. Because of her height and resemblance she doubled lead actresses Gates McFadden, Nana Visitor, and Terry Farrell as well as several guest actresses for the next eight years and played stunt acting parts as a Romulan, Bajoran, and several other aliens.

For her second Star Trek episode "The Outcast", Tallman filmed her scene as stunt double for guest actress Melinda Culea on Friday 21 February1992 on Paramount Stage 9 during second unit filming. About her makeup and appearance in the J'naii costume, Tallman remarked "Okay, I hated this little alien. What the hell? Not cool, scary or weird. Just ugly." ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 120) Madalone, his wife Linda, and fellow Trek stuntman Spiro Razatos were among Tallman's guests on her birthday/Babylon 5 wrap party on 4 September 1992.

Tallman's character from "Timescape" on a CCG card

Tallman described her look as Kiros in the episode "Starship Mine" as having a "glued vagina on my face and my hair looked like Bozo, the Clown." She also remembered being on two sets during these days: Filming her scenes for "Starship Mine" and being the stunt double for Joan Cusack in Addams Family Values on Paramount Stage 12. TNG was filmed on Paramount Stage 8 and 9 and DS9 on Paramount Stage 18, the street including these stages is named Avenue P. Tallman also remembered goofing around with Marie Marshall and Tim DeZarn on set and Patrick Stewart's "great butt" while filming the corridor scenes with him. ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 113-117) About her look as Romulan in the episode "Timescape", Tallman said "I looked like Liza Minnelli with jaundice." She also remembers Brent Spiner being a total funny guy and how she broke the set with her head because she was trying not to laugh and was up to do her fall right. ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 115-116) Her appearance from "Timescape" was later used for the card "Jera" in the 1994CCG: Premiere Edition.

About her work on the DS9 first season episode "Battle Lines", Tallman remembered "We had a battle with these huge spear things. I had on armor, but my fight partner's [Tom Morga] spear got past my guard and sliced my ribs. I had a scar for years. Later, he picked me up and banged my head so hard on the shuttle, it made this huge boom. I had a wig and headwrap so it didn't hurt that much, but the director was so impressed with the noise they gave me an extra $100 bucks. Made up for the rib slice." ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 123) This episode is still among Tallman's favorite episodes of Star Trek. (Star Trek Monthly issue 52, p. 31)

Tallman said about Nana Visitor that she was very good in fight scenes because of her extensive dance background. Sometimes, Tallman was just sitting behind the scenes and waiting to jump in for Visitor while she did most of her stunts on her own. But Visitor knew, that Tallman wouldn't get any residuals if she was not filmed so she made sure that Tallman always was filmed and won't be edited out. About the fight scene between Tallman and guest star Tim Russ in the DS9 second season episode "Invasive Procedures", she remembered "When the camera was on Nana's back and Tim's face, I stepped in and Nana took a cigarette break. Tim was supposed to throw a punch to my face in the fight. We had worked out the distance between us so he could safely swing a ferocious punch at my face and I would react as if it connected. He did this beautifully in rehearsal. When the director called "Action", Tim took a step into the space between us and punched me full on in the face. Everyone gasped because you could hear it clear as a bell. Tim was horrified and the director called, "Cut!" I yelled, "Don't cut! Keep going!" and we did. I didn't want to waste the take. I'd rather finish the fight, then go put ice on my face, than stop and have to do it again! I earned my pay that day because Nana had a photo shoot for TV Guide that afternoon. An egg on her face from a Klingon fist wouldn't have gone over well." ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 142-143)

Tallman and fellow stunt performers of the episode "To the Death"

While filming her scenes as stunt double for Bertila Damas on the Deep Space Nine episode "The Maquis, Part I", Tallman was visited by her father Jerry and his second wife Arlene. She also remembered about Deep Space Nine that they shot eighteen hour days, normally overtime, and that a crew member died in an accident on the way home because he fell asleep at the wheel after weeks of grueling schedule. ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 118-119) About her time on DS9, Tallman remarked that she was filming Babylon 5 one day and scenes as stunt double for Terry Farrell on DS9 the next day. While she was dressed as double for Farrell one of the DS9 producers approached her and told her "I really like Babylon 5'".

Tallman had her wardrobe fitting as bridge officer and stunt double for B'Etor actress Gwynyth Walsh in May 1994. She then learned about her pregnancy but was determined to work on this film. Her baby bump was showing when she wrapped Generations. She already had to pull out several sets of falsies off her costume while filming the sequences where she was hit by Malcolm McDowell into the face and during the scenes aboard the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. A fun fact Tallman mentioned in her book "Pleasure Thresholds" (p. 87) is that she was on both bridges during the fight. As a Starfleet officer aboard the Enterprise-D and as stunt double for Walsh aboard the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. During the filming of the Enterprise-D crash sequence, Tallman also filled in as stunt coordinator for Bud Davis. Tallman had already filmed her scenes as stunt double for Gates McFadden in this film aboard the sailing ship Lady Washington in Marina del Rey for a few days in April 1994. Her Starfleet uniform was later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay [1] as well as her costume as double for Gates McFadden aboard the sailing ship. [2] Her costume as double for Gwynyth Walsh cost $10.000. ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 87)

Tallman doubled Terry Farrell during the fourth and fifth season again. Several times in a fight sequence with Worf stunt double Brennan Dyson. She also coordinated fight sequences and remembered "We'd create moves that made sense with the weapons and develop a fighting style. Then, we would teach our actors as much as they could learn." ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 122) Her costume for one of the fight sequences was later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [3] Her work as double for Farrell in the fourth season episode "To the Death" also included some fight scenes along with fellow stunt performers Leslie Hoffman, Scott Leva, Tom Morga, Ken Lesco, and Chuck Borden. However, in the final episode no scene involving Tallman appeared. Her costume doubling Louise Fletcher in the final Deep Space Nine episode "What You Leave Behind" was also sold off on eBay. [4]

In 2011, Straczynski wrote the foreword titled "1,800 Non-Libelous Words About Patricia Tallman" for Tallman's autobiography "Pleasure Thresholds - Patricia Tallman's Babylon 5 Memoir". He described himself as fan of scary movies and zombie films and saw Tallman for the first time in the 1990 horror remake Night of the Living Dead. He became fascinated by her performance and specifically wrote the part of Leonora Holt in the Murder, She Wrote 1992 episode "Incident in Lot 7" for her but was told by the casting department that Tallman was unavailable and the role was cast with actress Paula Prentiss. The same year, Straczynski again wrote a part specifically for Tallman, the role of the Psi Corps telepath Lyta Alexander in "The Gathering", the pilot episode of Babylon 5.

Tallman working as Gates McFadden's stunt double on Generations in 1994

At the day of the audition for "The Gathering" Straczynski stepped into the waiting area and told Tallman that he wrote the part specifically for her. After Tallman auditioned for him and casting director Mary Jo Slater, who previously worked on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, she was called back and brought in for a table read for the producers at Warner Bros. Tallman read her scene with G'Kar actor Andreas Katsulas whose work she knew and with director Richard Compton. One week later she received a call from her agent and was cast. Tallman filmed her last scene for "The Gathering" on her birthday in 1992 and threw the wrap party at a friend's house. She then worked close with the production company promoting the project at several conventions.

After the experience being written out at the studio's decision when the series went into production, she joined an acting class and was guided by mentor and coach Charles Nelson Reilly. But Straczynski liked her performance and was ecstatic when he found the chance to bring Tallman back aboard Babylon 5 in March 1995 in the second season, this time as a guest actress in the episode "Divided Loyalties", followed by two more appearances in the third season after her "replacement", actress Andrea Thompson, decided to leave the series. With the beginning of the fourth season, Tallman joined the cast as a regular again and remained until the end of the series in 1998, appearing in 21 episodes alongside Walter Koenig, John Vickery, Harlan Ellison, Marjorie Monaghan, Musetta Vander, Tracy Scoggins, Julie Caitlin Brown, Carolyn Seymour, Bill Mumy, Star Trek stunt partner Tom Morga, and director Adam Nimoy. Tallman also appeared in the Babylon 5 television movie Thirdspace, with Clyde Kusatsu and stunts by Steve Rizzo and Jimmy Ortega. Spice Williams-Crosby, her former DS9 stunt partner, was among the stunt doubles for Tallman on this series and doubled her in the scene where Kosh exploded. Joni Avery, Tallman's stunt partner from Generations was also on set that day.

Tallman had a second meeting with director Adam Nimoy on set of the Babylon 5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane" after he directed her in the TNG episode "Timescape". She remembered "When it came time to shoot it, however, Adam Nimoy, who was directing this ep, shot it all in profile. He made it clear he didn't trust or like me very much as an actor. I think it was because he had worked with me as a stunt person on Star Trek and couldn't accept that people can have skills in different disciplines." ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 133) Tallman also regrets that she had no screen time with actor Brad Dourif who guest starred in this episode. On the set of Babylon 5, Tallman met co-star Jeffrey Willerth, who played the VorlonKosh, was Bruce Boxleitner's stand-in as well as PA and assistant to John Copeland, and married him on 28 August 1999. The marriage was held by fellow B5 star Peter Jurasik. They divorced on 12 March 2008.

One of Tallman's memories about the series was the use of the black contact lenses for her portrayal of Lyta in later seasons. She remembered "They had to hire a lens technician who would put the lenses in. He would hold my eyelids open and maneuver them in, while I clenched the chair in terror. The lenses were huge; they were full circles that would be big enough to cover the inner and outer corners of my eyes." ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 146) One of her co-stars from Babylon 5, Julie Caitlin Brown, is also working with Tallman in the more recent years. Brown is working as booking agent for fellow actors and is booking convention gigs also for Tallman.

Throughout the following years Straczynski and Tallman only met occasionally at the funerals of fellow B5 cast members Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, Johnny Sekka, and Jeff Conaway. In 2010 they reconnected and became friends again. That also led into working together. In 2012, Straczynski launched his own production company Studio JMS and Tallman became CEO and Executive Producer of the company, bringing in her business skills and experiences with "Talent to Go".

As part of Studio JMS, Tallman is currently working on Phase Two of the MTV.com series The Adventures of Apocalypse Al as follow up of the online comic strip web series, with a 2014 release. [7] In pre-production is the science fiction series Sense8, distributed by Netflix[8] as well as the drama The Flickering Light, set for a 2016 release. [9]

Following her work on "The Gathering", Tallman played a lead part in Star Runners, a science fiction pilot by Foundation Imaging which ultimately did not went into production. She doubled Elizabeth McGovern in the 1993 drama Me and Veronica, Joan Severance in the television thriller Lake Consequence (1993), Laura Dern's skeleton fall and car stunt work in the blockbuster Jurassic Park (1993), Joan Cusack's car crash in Addams Family Values (1993, with Christopher Lloyd, Carel Struycken, Andreana Weiner, Ian Abercrombie, Camille Saviola, and stunts by Joni Avery and Pat Romano), Daryl Hannah's falls in Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993), and played the evil witch in Sam Raimi's fantasy film Army of Darkness (1992). About her work for Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jurassic Park, Tallman remembered her stunts scenes in the end of the movie when she fell off the dinosaur skeletons. She wasn't able to use pads because of the short pants Dern's character was wearing in these scenes. She went home and was shocked by the bruises and hematomas. On the next day at the makeup trailer she asked for someone to cover these hematomas for her scenes and from the P.A. to the assistant directors, even the special effects guys came to see them. "They had to call in a specialty makeup person who used paints on my body, then airbrushed my legs back to flesh colored. Thank god. It worked". ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 155-157)

In 1993, Tallman met Andrea Rogantini, an executive chef at Prego Beverly Hills, and the two fell in love. Following work as a regular stunt double on the series Melrose Place she doubled actress Lolita Davidovich on the sport drama Cobb in 1994. While being in makeup her makeup artist told her about her own pregnancy she just found out. Tallman also bought a test and learned that she was pregnant, too. At the same time she was doubling Davidovich being dragged down the hallway and thrown onto a bed by Tommy Lee Jones. Being in her seventh month, Tallman worked with fellow Trek stuntman Bernie Pock on his drama The Biker Poet on which she played Amber Tamblyn's mother. Rogantini's and Tallman's son Julian Jon was born on 12 November 1994, two weeks after Tallman finished Charles Nelson Reilly's play "The Wives".

Other projects she participated in are the comedy sequel Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Stephen King's miniseries The Stand (1994, with Matt Frewer, Ray Walston, and Miguel Ferrer), the action film Speed (1994), and Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996). She doubled Geena Davis' cliff fall in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), played the beaten Electric Psychedelic Pussycat club waitress in Austin Powers: International Man of Mysteries (1997), and a flying waitress in the 1998 blockbuster Godzilla. About her time on The Long Kiss Goodnight, Tallman remembered "I was often looking right into the camera, rather tha turning away like stunt folks usually do. The stunts were extreme - falling into camera from sixty-plus feet on a wire - and I couldn't hide my face. That meant I was wearing a silicon "Geena" mask, which was new to me. This required about five extra hours to get into and out of make up." Tallman was requested after Davis' first stunt double got injured on set and couldn't finish her work. She flew to Toronto, Canada where the scenes were filmed and described this stunt as one of the most dabgerous stunts she did in her career. ("Pleasure Thresholds", pp. 160-161)

Tallman earned a certification from the British Society of Fight Directors, studying with B.H. Barry and tested by Patrick Crean. She continued to perform stunts in productions such as a Talk Show Stunt Guest in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), as a stunt double in the crime drama The General's Daughter (1999, with James Cromwell and Clarence Williams III), as stunt double for Hudson Leick in the action film The Chill Factor (1999), and for Katie Finneran in the 2005 remake Bewitched. She was the evil mistress Caroline Dula in the Sheena episode The Darkness (2001), Alisa Fox in the drama For Pete's Wake (2004), appeared in the stage play "Waiting" (2004) directed by Chip Chalmers, and reprised her role as Lyta Alexander in the two animated Babylon Park spoofs "Frightspace" and "Grudgematch". She voiced the lead character of Lt. Richmond in the audio plays "Lives of the Cat" and "Anne Manx" and narrated the Better Sex video series from the Sinclair Intimacy Institute. Tallman was interviewed or had pictorials in every major science fiction magazine, including Starlog, SFX, Cinefantastique, and Celebrity Sleuth.

Her connection to Dennis Madalone gave her the chance to appear as Ms. Peters in the horror short Jennifer is Dead (2002, with Tom Morga, Lynn Salvatori, and stunt coordinator Madalone), as a mother at a cemetery in Madalone's music video "America We Stand as One" in 2001, as stunt double for Angela Lansbury in the television movie Murder She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle (2003, with Fionnula Flanagan, Cyril O'Reilly, W. Morgan Sheppard, her "Starship Mine" co-star Tim de Zarn, and Justin Sundquist), as stunt double for Laura Prepon in the thriller Karla (2006, with George Colucci), and in at least three episodes of the television series Without a Trace (2004, 2006, and 2007, under stunt coordinator Madalone, starring Enrique Murciano). The stunt work on Karla was Tallman's last "full stunt work" in television and film. She remembered that the stair film on this film caused a serious injury of her leg and knee and she was treated in hospital. Her leg has never been the same again. ("Pleasure Thresholds", p. 142)

Outside of her acting career, she co-founded and is heading, along with fellow actress Judy Kain, the company Talent To Go, a marketing and auditioning service for actors in Los Angeles. Tallman is also a leading fundraiser for Penny Lane for over twenty years, a center for abused children in California. She was brought in by fellow stuntwoman Spice Williams-Crosby and is mainly working with the North Hills campus of teens from twelve to eighteen. [10] For over ten years she is also part of Penny Lane's "Be a Santa" event. [11]

In 2010 Tallman finished the short drama Waitin', written and directed by Victor Warren. She portrayed Sally, one of the people in the hospital waiting room and her son Julian had a part in the film. Fellow Star Trek performers Brad Blaisdell and Jay Caputo also have roles in this short film. [12] Tallman appeared as Eric's wife in the short drama Thoughts of Suicide on an Otherwise Lovely Day (2010), written, produced, and starring Julie Caitlin Brown. Her sister Judie Tallman worked as makeup and hair stylist on this film and Trek actress and earlier L.A. roommate Iona Morris had a supporting role.

Tallman can be seen as the female murder victim Vivian Marchand in the second episode of the third season of Castle, titled "He's Dead, She's Dead" (2010) on which Dennis Madalone worked as stunt coordinator and Rob Bowman as producer. [13]

Tallman worked on a book titled "Pleasure Thresholds - Patricia Tallman's Babylon 5 Memoir", a personal collection of behind the scenes pictures and stories during her time on Babylon 5 as well as from other projects and her way into the business. This scrapbook was released in September 2011. [14]

Tallman appeared as Captain Margot Nolan in the Criminal Minds episode "A Thousand Suns", the third episode of the tenth season, originally airing on 15 October 2014. [15]

Set for a 2016 release, Tallman has been cast in The Survivors, an action/horror film "about a multi-generational group of strong female survivors who decide to get revenge as they ban to together and turn the tables on legendary murderer who, during their youth pursued them all. After the killer resurfaces, the women make a pack to track him down and end his twenty-five year killing spree." Heather Langenkamp will also star in this film. [16]

Tallman became a part of the Sci-Fi-Festival in Los Angeles when she appeared in the Ray Bradbury play "Kaleidoscope" in May 2014 along with Faran Tahir. [17] As of November 2014, Tallman is currently working on her second book with a Mastermind Group in Bali.